Lund was born in Aalborg, Denmark, to unmarried parents; he was raised by his maternal grandmother until his emigration to the United States in 1862. Lund's mother died when he was less than four years old. At that time, his father was serving in the war over Schleswig-Holstein. Lund was baptized a member of the LDS Church at age 12; after his baptism, he assisted the missionaries and fulfilled his duties as first a teacher and then a priest by preaching with them. In 1862, Lund immigrated with his grandmother to the United States. He arrived in Utah Territory in September and settled in Sanpete County, following the tradition of many Scandinavian immigrants. In 1864, Lund was a teamster in a Down and Back Mormon pioneer company. The next winter, he served as a school teacher. In 1865, he responded to Brigham Young's request that men come to Salt Lake City and learn to be telegraph operators. In 1866, Lund became the telegraph operator for the Mount Pleasant station, where he was ordained as a seventy by Peter Madsen Peel.
Church and political service
From 1884 to 1885, Lund served as president of the Scandinavian Mission of the church. Lund served in the Utah Territorial Legislature. He introduced the legislation that resulted in the founding of Utah State Agricultural College, which later became Utah State University. Lund served on the Utah Capitol Grounds Committee when it was formed in 1888. Lund became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 7, 1889. Church presidentJohn Taylor had died two years earlier. Lund was ordained along with two other apostles, Marriner W. Merrill and Abraham H. Cannon. At the time of his ordination, Lund was the only monogamist in the Quorum of the Twelve. His wife was Sarah Ann Peterson, who he had married in 1870. In 1891, Lund became the president of the Manti Temple. From 1893 until 1896, Lund was the president of the European Mission. He made a journey to the Ottoman Empire in 1897, where he organized the Turkish Mission and looked into sought out a gathering place for the primarily Armenian church members in that mission. In 1899, Lund laid and dedicated the southeast cornerstone of the Sanpete Stake Academy. That same year, Lund delivered a General Conference sermon in which he emphasized that it was no longer church policy to encourage members of the church to emigrate to the western United States. In 1900, Lund became the superintendent of church religion classes. Church president Joseph F. Smith selected Lund as second counselor in the First Presidency on October 17, 1901. He served in that position until April 7, 1910, when Smith called him as first counselor, to replace John R. Winder, who had died in March. Lund assumed a myriad of duties, including heading various church agencies and again serving as a temple president. Lund also served as a member of several writing committees to revise the church's standard works and other publications. He participated in numerous businesses in Utah, including the Hotel Utah, the Amalgamated Sugar Company, and ZCMI. Lund was the first member of the First Presidency whose native language was not English. While he was a member of the First Presidency, Lund also fulfilled civic roles. He replaced John Henry Smith as a member of the Utah Capitol Commission after Smith died. After the death of Joseph F. Smith in 1918, new church president Heber J. Grant retained Lund as first counselor in the First Presidency. At this time, Lund also assumed the position of President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Lund served as Church Historian from 1900 to 1921. While in this office, he supervised the movement of the office and its materials to the new Church Administration Building in 1917. Lund served as president of the Genealogical Society of Utah and was the first editor of the Utah Historical and Genealogical Magazine. From 1911 to 1921, Lund was the president of the Salt Lake Temple.
Death
Lund died in Salt Lake City on March 2, 1921, from a duodenal ulcer, an ailment that plagued him for many years. He was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery. John A. Widtsoe was called to the Quorum of the Twelve after his death.
Legacy
Utah State University's mathematics hall is named for Lund.
